Video can add value to your site’s online presence. This dynamic form of media can display the right message and help you stand out even further in your niche industry. On the internet you are up against thousands of other marketing messages some of which may not even be in your niche area. People are bombarded with email ads as well as thousands of website that make promises that they can’t deliver. Video helps to develop the presence you want and need to become an online success!
Videos have proven themselves as being the most powerful form of communication. You see them everyday. Television ads are short “made for air” clips that inform, promote and heighten an interest in a business. Using that same platform, you can achieve similar results online using videos. Here are some reasons why you should be using video in your website
· Videos can present your message in such a way that written words can’t. Videos have the power to bring your message to life and add elements of emotion that are hard to evoke by words alone. Those emotions are the things that your potential customers connect with and you will find that you’ll have an easier time converting your potential customers into paying ones!
· Videos are easily transportable between sites. Once housed on a social video site like YouTube, other visitors can easily link to your video. They can also embed your video on their own site and as they spread their own message, they are essentially spreading yours!
· You don’t have to create a video to use videos on your site. There are so many clips being created by people who already have the equipment and infrastructure to create them. This means that you can enhance your message using someone else’s message! Did you know that almost all the Social Network Video Websites such as YouTube, Google Video, Revver and many others, provide embed code so that you can easily put the video that you want on YouTube IN YOUR OWN WEBSITE! WOW! So now you can make a website and use other people’s videos on your website legally! That is how it all works on Social Network Videos.
· You will need to be mindful of Social Network Video Websites though when it comes to proprietary intellectual property and not “Sales Copy” or “Advertisement” type Videos. As mentioned above, just like you can embed videos from other people’s uploaded video content, anything you upload, they can do the same. So you need additional to the Social Network Video Websites, a paid subscription service that will protect and host your Videos that you may for example, wish to sell to Clients as a Downloadable Product or you just do not want to provide other people the legal ability to use your Video Content and wish to use Video on your Website. (I hope that is not too confusing… but it is important to know and note the legal aspects of your intellectual property).Check out my Professional Website Software that includes Video Encoding & Hosting as well as protecting Digital Downloadable Files. http://aquawebsites.com/page/professional-website-software/default.asp
· If you decide that creating your own video is the route to go, you can still easily do this with simple equipment and good lighting. If you want to avoid the “home created” experience, you can also use digitised pictures (such as a Digital Photos and Microsoft PowerPoint) and turn that into a video with music using Windows Movie Maker which is on all XP and Vista Machines and Macs have iMovie. So these free programs on your computer can now be put to use. Most people do not realise they have Video Editing Software on their Windows and Mac computers. On a XP or Vista Windows machine, simply click on Start >All Programs > Windows Movie Maker. It even lets you record directly from your WebCam, Import Digital Photos and Music Files to use in your Video. With this software, you can Cut and Splice the Video files you have and make an incredible looking video in literally minutes! Most people astonish themselves actually as this program is far easier to use than PowerPoint or any Graphics program I know.
· Videos are more apt to be spread virally than any other form of media. It takes just minutes for an audience to see your message and respond to it. Since they can easy link to or embed your video on their site, you can wind up being promoted on websites quicker than you ever imagined.
· People like to be entertained. They like to see things visually rather than concoct an image in their mind. As a result, it’s easier for your audience to see your message and connect with it using humour or compassion than it is to be entertained by an informational written piece.
· Videos are going to increase in popularity even further. With the release of Apple’s iPhone and the iPod video, more people will have offline access to videos that they can share. Sharing means profitability for the business owner.
Still wondering if videos are the right way to go? They have become so easy to use within the context of your site and the best part is you don’t even have to produce them. This represents for you an increased opportunity to promote your business and connect with future audience members.
Ok, you can have some fun with Today’s task! Some people start playing with making videos on their own and pretty much well end up doing it all the time after that as it is an easy thing to do. You will certainly at the very least impress family members on your new found talent!
I once was at a Christmas Party and took about 50 photos on my Mobile Phone, which I then downloaded from my Mobile Phone to my Computer and started up Windows Movie Maker and created a Movie using just the Photos, no video footage at all and created a video fro photos!
You see Windows Movie Maker and Apple iMovie both provide the ability for you to have effects and transitions between your photos and make a Video look so professional. SO in this case, I made the Video in about 10 minutes and added a really cool song I had on my hard drive that I bought and downloaded from www.musicbakery.com and now have full legal rights to use the music again and again in many ways as I have purchased royalty-free music – basically meaning, I can use it commercially and completely legal with no copyright issues. Important to note this and not use commercially copyrighted material in your Website Videos.
And then I played the Video by burning it to DVD from my Computer and to the family and WOW, that video was played on loop for about 2 hours, even though the video went for just over 2 minutes! They loved it and the video became the number #1 favourite video of the family. It has even been played at several other family events afterwards. Can you imagine doing this for your family?
So, even if you only have Photos on your computer right now from a Digital Camera, then you can make a Movie and learn how to use Windows Movie Maker or iMovie.
Here is a website that has a great tutorial on using Windows Movie Maker.
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/moviemaker2
Here is the Apple website which shows you how to use the iMovie software on a Mac.
http://www.apple.com/support/ilife/tutorials/imovie/
If instead of just photos, you want to do the REAL Deal and use Video from your Video Camera, Webcam or Mobile Phone, then you can easily do this and again, the links above have some excellent “Video Tutorials” (meaning you get to see a video of the screen as someone teaches you how to use the software).
Now as far as making a Great Video and having a good eye for making the right type of video shots, angles, lighting, sound and all those kool effects for making the next hollywood block buster, then head on over to YouTube’s Video Help area, which is not only extensive, but way cool and simple to understand, hey it is just click to play! What is so hard about that? http://au.youtube.com/t/yt_handbook_produce
You will be impressed with the Videos and help in this area of YouTube and it might be a real eye opener for you.
Ok so, you have now made a Video and it is ready to Upload into all these Social Network Video websites where 100,000’s of people are searching for Videos to watch. But to be able to go and do this many many times over will take time to upload the video file to each one of the many websites avaialble.
So I have a solution for you. It is called – www.TubeMogul.com and it is pretty simple really. Once you have signed up to each of the 21 Major Video websites that Tube Mogul connects to, you can then simply Upload your Video File ONCE to Tube Mogul and then behind the scenes (most importantly not using your internet connection), TubeMogul uploads your video file to all the 21 major video websites for you. Like how much time does that one website save! Like HEAPS! This will allow you to go to the beach for the afternoon instead of sitting in front of your computer… literally this website will save you so much time in year come and yet with very little effort on your behalf, provide you with traffic possiblities that will lead to sales and income being generated from your website.
So be sure to go to www.TubeMogul.com and read over what it is all about, the extra features of Tube Mogul just get better and better and one great and very important feature is the viewing statistics and how well your videos perform in all the different websites. Without stats it is like being blind and not knowing what is really happening. Since we can on the Internet in most cases get stats and access to log files, we can see information and patterns to help us in our marketing efforts.
So pretty fun Task today… Make a Movie and join a whole heap of Video websites.
Mmmmm better not tell anyone that homework today was learning how to become a Movie Director, they might not believe you! But once you have learn how to use Windows Movie Maker or iMovie and joined Tube Mogul and all the websites it connects to, you will soon see you are now set to become a real Movie Director! So what are you waiting for? Get started!